Five years ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service set a five-year goal of 500 adult Least Terns and 125 fledglings per year along the Arkansas River in Oklahoma. A recent survey found 619 adults and 211 fledglings, which is simply great! And, if you happen to be visiting Tulsa, Oklahoma, you can apparently see breeding Least Terns on islands just south of the 11th St bridge.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
It’s really heartening how well this species and Piping Plover are doing on the eastern Great Plains–quite in contrast to their situation on the east coast. Just hope they can stay out of the oil.